After Meat

Abstract

This chapter describes a future scenario in which humankind abruptly stops eating animals. Its purpose is to explore the impacts of animal agriculture using a fictional device. Several ways, in which the end of meat might happen are suggested, including a virulent global human epidemic originating from the meat supply. The ensuing state of the world is examined along six axes: animals, the environment, human health, the economy, food, and society. Because of the enormous scale of animal agriculture today, a sudden end to meat would cause massive upheavals across all of these domains. However, it is predicted that positive gains would be significant, outweighing negative outcomes.